# Built to Work Podcast: Episode with Brent Taylor

**Colin:**
Welcome to Built to Work, the podcast that gets its hands dirty, dives into the grit, and uncovers the heart of what makes the blue-collar world tick. I’m Colin, your host, and I’m sitting down with the people who keep our world running. From those tackling the tough jobs no one else dares to do to the HR professionals working overtime to find the labor force we desperately need. Whether you’re in the trenches or behind the scenes, this podcast is for anyone who values hard work, determination, and stories that build the backbone of our workforce. So, grab your gloves, your coffee, or your clipboard. It’s time to get to work. Welcome to another episode of Built to Work. Today, I’m here with my friend and associate, Brent Taylor. Thank you so much for being here, Brent.

**Brent:**
Thanks for having me, Colin. I’m excited to be on the podcast.

**Colin:**
Yeah. So Brent and I have known each other for over… well definitely over a year now. Probably getting close to two years about now.

**Brent:**
Yeah.

**Colin:**
And Brent has a really cool company that he owns. It’s called KC CFO and we actually utilize your services. Can you please tell everybody what KC CFO is, what you guys do, that sort of thing?

**Brent:**
Yeah, so we’re a fractional CFO firm. We work with companies that are growing and usually bumping into complexities and need a little bit of help kind of on top of probably just their normal accounting. Sometimes we’ll get called in to help maybe even a startup and we’ll come in and just help kind of diagnose and give them some guidance on what they need. But our bread and butter is to come into a company that usually has a base layer of accounting. Maybe they have an accounting manager or a controller. Maybe they’re outsourcing that and kind of come in and complement and sort of be on top of that and work with the business owners to drive growth and do it in a smart way.

**Colin:**
Yeah. That’s awesome. So Brent is actually our CFO. So, you guys are an outsourced CFO, fractional CFO. So that means instead of us having to hire, you know, somebody that costs a whole lot of money, maybe we don’t have enough volume of work to justify a full-time internal CFO. That’s when an outsourced or fractional CFO comes into play, right?

**Brent:**
Exactly, yeah. Prior to this world, the outsourced world, the fractional world existing, a lot of companies felt like they had to get to a certain size – and it was a significant size – to be able to hire a full-time CFO because they’re expensive. You have the benefits, the payroll taxes, and all that. So, this world has opened up possibilities for a lot of companies at a lot smaller levels to get some of that help that historically they weren’t used to being able to get. If you’re a $10 million company, you probably don’t have enough going on that you need a full-time CFO. So getting that part-time fractional help is really beneficial.

**Colin:**
So, we have paired a fractional CFO with an outsourced accounting team, and for me, we haven’t really missed a beat. Anytime I need to get ahold of you and I’m like, “Hey, I have a CFO question, a financing question, an introduction question, a banking question,” I just call you and then you have the answer. So, it’s weird to say you’re even like outsourced because it feels like you’re a part of our team, right? You’re on the meetings, you’re just part of it. You have the high-level discussions with us, and that’s been awesome to leverage.

**Brent:**
Yeah. Absolutely. One of the goals I have for myself is to help these companies grow, right? Small to mid-size companies grow to a point. One goal is we grow to a point where maybe they get acquired. It’s a big success story for us. And then ultimately, the more typical goal is we grow ourselves out of a job to where the company has gotten to a certain point where they need a full-time CFO. That’s a success story for us, and one that we’re excited to sort of exit a company because of that. In that situation, we’ll then help them identify who that replacement will be, to be full-time, and help with a very smooth transition.

**Colin:**
So how did you get into the fractional CFO world?

**Brent:**
Great question. I started my career at a big four accounting firm and then was at a large health system for quite a few years. I married a small business owner, and when you’re at a giant company, a lot of the problems, you don’t really… there’s a department for that problem, right? It goes over there. Well, in my wife’s business, all these different departments don’t exist; it’s usually the business owner that has to figure all these things out. I helped her buy her business, finance it, set up the infrastructure, and it was fun. It was impactful. I thought, “I’m helping guide a company.” It was a very small business, but I had little sparks going off.

**Colin:**
That’s awesome. Tell us about a company you helped where leveraging your services made a big change or helped them achieve their goals.

**Brent:**
I got introduced to a company that had a new COO. The company had been around for about 25 years with a good history of growth and profits but had some stumbles. They had three years where they weren’t growing or profitable, and took on some debt they shouldn’t have. I was pulled in to see if there was a path out of this. We discovered they had a very good product, and their financials were a mess. We introduced them to an outsourced accounting services firm that helped make sense of the financials and rebuilt processes. Quickly, we identified that some locations were causing losses. We closed them, got back to ground zero, and after about two years, they were growing and profitable again.

**Colin:**
That’s great. One of the things I love about outsourcing some roles is letting companies focus on their core competencies. Especially small business owners, sometimes they don’t understand certain aspects and need support.

**Brent:**
Yes, small to midsize business owners often wear too many hats because the company is their baby. Taking off and handing out different responsibilities is a great step. With you and Adam, you decided to stay in your lane from day one and allowed us to figure out who to handle accounting. You’ve leveraged outsourcing effectively and it’s made a big difference.

**Colin:**
As you look to the future, what are your plans for growth? Are you exploring other fractional roles?

**Brent:**
Yes, we’re a small team and we’re picky on who we work with. We have plans to grow while maintaining smart growth. In the fractional world, we’re seeing this model even in HR, COOs, CMOs – it’s becoming more normal. This allows companies to bring in experts without hiring full-time, which will keep growing.

**Colin:**
Thanks, Brent, for your time and insights. If anyone needs a fractional CFO, Brent is the guy to help you out.

**Brent:**
Thanks for having me. This was a great conversation.